Heat dissipation module

ABSTRACT

A heat dissipation module, which comprises a heat dissipation piece, a fan, a heat conduction coating material and a heat conduction piece, is disclosed. The heat conduction coating material is used for improving the thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece. Accordingly, when elements transmit heat to the heat dissipation piece via the heat conduction piece, more heat is transmitted to the air via thermal radiation manner. Next, the fan sucks heated air to achieve the effect of heat dissipation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application No. 100106721, filed on Mar. 1, 2011, in the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a heat dissipation module, and more particularly to a heat dissipation module having heat conduction coating material.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional heat dissipation module is composed of a heat dissipation piece, a heat conduction piece, a heat dissipation pipe, heat dissipation fins and a fan. Generally, the heat dissipation module can be disposed near heat sources inside a laptop computer such as a central processor, a motherboard, a display card, an optical disc drive, chips or hard drives. These elements inside the laptop computer may generate heat to raise temperature during the operation. If the temperature inside the laptop computer is too high, it may cause the laptop malfunctioned. The current trend, however, demands the laptop computer to be designed with lighter weight and smaller sizes. For the purpose of working normally, the conventional heat dissipation pipe must allow the fluid flowing inside the heat dissipation pipe, thus requiring spaces contrary to the current trend.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the inventor(s) of the present invention developed a heat dissipation module to overcome the problem of requiring spaces contrary to the current trend.

The heat dissipation module of the present invention comprises a heat dissipation piece, a fan, a heat conduction coating material and a heat conduction piece, wherein the heat conduction piece is located at a surface of the heat dissipation piece, and heating elements are disposed on the heat conduction piece. Heat generated by the heating elements can be transmitted to the heat dissipation piece via the heat conduction piece. The heat conduction coating material is formed on the heat dissipation piece to improve the thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece. In addition, one side of the heat dissipation piece is disposed with the fan for sucking hot air. In addition, in the heat dissipation module of the present invention, a foam or a heat conduction foam can be disposed on the heat conduction coating material. The heat conduction foam is formed by encapsulating the heat conduction material on the outer layer of the foam to improve the efficiency of transmitting heat. An air channel is formed by incorporating the foam or the heat conduction foam with another foam or the heat conduction foam. In addition, to improve the effect of expelling heat, the fan can be designed to comprise an air inlet and an air outlet for expelling hot air.

The heat dissipation module of the present invention has the following advantages:

(1) The heat dissipation module of the present invention forms the heat conduction coating material on the heat dissipation piece and may selectively use or dispense the use of the heat conduction pipe and the heat dissipation fins so that the design of the heat dissipation route of the heat dissipation module can have more flexibility and require less space.

(2) The heat dissipation module of the present invention can have the air channel so that hot air can be easily expelled.

(3) The heat dissipation module of the present invention can be designed as a predetermined shape heat dissipation route and does not need to be limited by a conventional plate-type heat dissipation route.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a heat dissipation module according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The foregoing and other technical characteristics of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the illustration of the related drawings.

With reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, FIG. 1 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of a heat dissipation module according to a first embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 3 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the first embodiment of the heat dissipation module of the present invention comprises a heat dissipation piece 200, a fan 300, a heat conduction coating material 400 and a heat conduction piece 500, wherein the heat dissipation piece 200 can be a flat structure. To improve the heat dissipation effect, the heat dissipation piece 200 can be selected from a material having better thermally conduction such as metal. The heat conduction piece 500 is located at a surface of the heat dissipation piece 200, and the heating element is disposed on the heat conduction piece 500. Therefore, the heat generated by the heating element is transmitted by the heat conduction piece 500 to the heat dissipation piece 200. In addition, the heat conduction coating material 400 is formed on the heat dissipation piece 200 by, for example, spray coating or printing process. The material of the heat conduction coating material 400 is, for example, part number CT200, provided by OKITSUMO Corp. The material of the heat conduction coating material 400 may also be Xylene, Toluol, N-Butanol, Isobutyl alcohol or Diglyoidylethor of BPA. The heat conduction coating material 400 is used for improving the thermal radiation coefficient so that the heat can be transmitted to the air, wherein the thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece 200 is, for example, 0.6. The thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece 200 having the heat conduction coating material 400 is, for example, larger than 0.95. In addition, a side of the heat dissipation piece 200 is disposed with a fan 300 for expelling hot air and to dissipate the heat from the heating element. It should be noted that the heat dissipation module of the present invention achieves heat dissipation effect via enhanced thermal radiation manner. For example, the heating element can be a chip 800. The chip 800 is disposed on the heat conduction piece 500. The heat generated by the chip 800 is transmitted to the heat dissipation piece 200 via the heat conduction piece 500. The heat conduction coating material 400 on the heat dissipation piece 200 has the function of improving thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece 200. When the heat generated by the chip 800 is transmitted to the heat dissipation piece 200 via the heat conduction piece 500, the air may be heated via thermal radiation manner, wherein the air may, for example, be heated to reach 75 degrees Celsius. Afterwards, the heated air may be expelled by the fan 300 located at another end of the heat dissipation piece 200. In another word, air expelled by the fan 300 would be 75 degrees Celsius.

It should be noted that in the conventional heat dissipation module, heat is transmitted by the heat dissipation pipe to a fluid at one end inside the heat dissipation pipe through heat conduction manner. When the fluid is heated and becomes steam, the steam would move toward another end. In the meantime, air is sucked by the fan and blown toward the another end of the heat conduction pipe. The steam within the heat conduction pipe is cooled down to become a liquid that then flows back to the one end inside the heat conduction pipe, thereby achieving the effect of circulation and temperature reduction. The liquid inside the heat conduction pipe is 100 degrees Celsius of vaporization temperature. Since there is no heat conduction coating material on the heat dissipation piece in the conventional heat dissipation module, the temperature of the air is about 45 degrees Celsius, the air sucked by the fan is 45 degrees Celsius. The temperature of blown air is between 45 and 100 degrees Celsius. To ensure bringing heat of the heat source through low temperature air, conventional heat dissipation fins would be disposed at the high temperature end of the heat dissipation pipe. Therefore, the energy of the heat dissipation module would be concentrated in the another end of the heat dissipation pipe, i.e., the heat dissipation fins end. The function of the fan in the conventional heat dissipation module sucks air colder than the heat dissipation fins end and blows the sucked cold air toward the heat dissipation pipe or the heat dissipation fins. The user may face the problem of regional high temperature around the heat dissipation fins. In the present invention, the energy of the heat dissipation module can be uniformly distributed in the air via thermal radiation. The air having about 75 degrees Celsius is directly sucked by the fan 300. In another word, the fan directly sucks hot air heated by the heat source and transmits the hot air to another end of the fan. Therefore, the user is prevented from suffering the regional high temperature problem.

To further enhance the heat dissipation effect, the heat dissipation module of the present invention is further provided with a second embodiment. The heat dissipation module of the present invention comprises heat conduction foam 700. The heat conduction foam 700 is disposed on the heat dissipation piece 200. In addition, it should be noted that the foam can be utilized to replace the heat dissipation foam 700. The timing of coating the heat dissipation coating material 400 on the heat dissipation piece 200 may be set at a time prior to disposing the heat dissipation foam 700 or be set after disposing the heat conduction foam 700. In the second embodiment of the present invention, the heat conduction coating material 400 is coated on the heat dissipation piece 700 prior to disposing the heat dissipation foam 700 so that the heat conduction coating material 400 can be uniformly coated on the heat dissipation piece 200 to achieve and use the heat conduction materials in an economical way.

The heat conduction foam 700 not only acts as a buffer during the assembly of the heat dissipation module, but it also increases the heat dissipation area. In another embodiment of the present invention, the heat conduction foam 700 and another heat conduction foam 710 are arranged to form an air channel. For example, the heat conduction foam 700 and another heat conduction foam 710 are disposed onto the heat dissipation piece 200 to form the air channel. The air channel can assist the ventilation of air so that the fan 300 can expel heated air efficiently. In addition, the fan 300 is further disposed with an air outlet 600 and an air inlet 601 so that the heated air can be sucked from the air inlet 601 and expelled from the air outlet 600 so as to achieve the heat dissipation effect.

The third embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a top view of a heat dissipation module according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, the present invention further comprises a predetermined-shaped-heat-dissipation-piece 201 connected to the plurality of heat conduction pieces 500. The heat conduction pieces 500 are located below the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 and can be respectively connected to multiple heat source elements, such as central processors, motherboards, display cards, optical disk drivers, chips or hard drivers. The heat conduction coating material 400 can be coated on the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 at a time before the shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 is defined. The shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 is then defined based upon the heat dissipation route 900 in need. Alternatively, the shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 can also be firstly defined, and the heat conduction coating material 400 is then coated.

In addition, the timing of coating the heat conduction coating material 400 on the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 can be set at a time prior to disposing the heat dissipation foam 700 or can be set after disposing the heat conduction foam 700. The timing of coating the heat conduction coating material 400 according to the third embodiment of the present invention is prior to disposing the heat conduction foam 700. In another word, the heat conduction coating material 400 can be firstly coated on the heat dissipation piece 200 to achieve efficiently coating the heat conduction coating material 400 on the heat dissipation piece 200 uniformly and using the heat conduction coating material 400 economically.

The heat generated by each heat source component in the embodiments can be transmitted by the plurality of heat conduction pieces 500 and the predetermined-shape-heat dissipation-piece 201 to the air above the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 via thermal radiation manner and partial thermal conduction manner. The heated air is directly sucked by the fan 300 to achieve the objective of heat dissipation. The heat dissipation route 900 depicted in the embodiment is similar to the shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201. Since the heat dissipation route 900 can be connected to the fan 300, hot air can be directly sucked by the fan 300 to achieve the objective of heat dissipation. The present invention may dispense the use of the heat dissipation fins which aids the heat dissipation at the air outlet 600 conventionally. In the present invention, if the heat dissipation fins are added to the air outlet 600, the expelled hot air may be interfered.

The shapes of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 can be tree like, paw like or arc segment like so that the heat dissipation route 900 is also similar to the tree like, the paw like or the arc segment like. More specifically, the shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 can be decided upon users' demands. The predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 can be coated with the heat conduction coating material 400, disposed with the plurality of heat conduction foam 700 to form air channel which may ensure that the shape of the heat dissipation route 900 is similar to the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201.

The predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201 of the third embodiment not only reduces the area of the heat dissipation piece in need, but also flexibly controls the heat dissipation route 900 via designing the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece 201. The conventional heat conduction pipe that contains liquid requires much more space and has higher costs. In addition, the conventional heat dissipation route may not be flexibly designed in accordance with users' need. In other words, by comparing with the conventional heat dissipation module, the heat dissipation route 900 of the present invention can avoid affecting the working piece with high thermal sensitivities, improve the flexibility of designing the heat dissipation route 900, and reduce the space used by the heat dissipation module of the present invention.

The heat dissipation module of the present invention improves the thermal radiation coefficient by forming the heat conduction coating material 400 on the heat dissipation piece 200 so that heat generated by the heat source elements is transmitted to air via thermal radiation. Air that receives heat is outputted by the fan 300 so as to achieve heat dissipation effect. Comparing with the conventional heat dissipation module, the heat dissipation module of the present invention requires less space because the heat dissipation pipe is omitted, thus beneficial to the miniaturization of electronic components. Further, because the manner of transmitting heat is different, the present invention can uniformly distribute heat in the air thus avoid regional high temperature in the electronic components.

The present invention improves over the prior art and complies with patent application requirements, and thus is duly filed for patent application. While the present invention has been described by device of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those generally skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention set forth in the claims. 

1. A heat dissipation module comprising: a heat dissipation piece; a heat conduction piece located on a surface of the heat dissipation piece, wherein a heating element is disposed on the heat conduction piece; a heat conduction coating material formed on the heat dissipation piece to improve a thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece; and a fan disposed to a side of the heat dissipation piece to suck the air to dissipate heat generated by the heating element.
 2. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, further comprising a first heat conduction foam disposed on the heat conduction coating material.
 3. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 2, further comprising a second heat conduction foam disposed on the heat conduction coating material, wherein the second heat conduction foam and the first heat conduction foam form an air channel.
 4. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the fan is further disposed with an air outlet and an air inlet for sucking and expelling the air.
 5. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 4, wherein a temperature of the air is 75 degrees Celsius.
 6. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the thermal radiation coefficient of the heat dissipation piece having the heat conduction coating material is larger than 0.95.
 7. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation piece is a flat plate.
 8. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein a material of the heat dissipation piece is metal.
 9. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the heat conduction coating material is formed on the heat dissipation piece by spray coating or printing manner.
 10. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation piece is a predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece.
 11. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 10, wherein a shape of the predetermined-shape-heat-dissipation-piece is a tree like, a paw like or an arc segment like.
 12. The heat dissipation module as recited in claim 1, wherein the heat generated by the heating element is transmitted to the heat dissipation piece via the heat conduction piece. 